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I will be summering at V50. I know the basic do good work, be polite and friendly advices. Besides things to do during the actual SA program, what could I do to increase my chances of eventually getting an offer? Are there preferred substantive classes to take or extracurricular that would help? What should I watch out for?

There are threads on this already but here is the best advice I can give you - never fucking complain about anything. The partners and associates look at you as pretty much taking their time and money for a fun summer. They don't mind as long as you don't take it for granted. But once you complain about anything at all, ever to anyone, you are sunk. If you don't realize how good you have it now as an SA or are just acting entitled, no one wants to deal with you as an associate when things are a lot more pressured.

Also, never be mean to or impatient with any support staff - paralegals or secretary types. Same reasoning.

sunynp wrote:There are threads on this already but here is the best advice I can give you - never fucking complain about anything. The partners and associates look at you as pretty much taking their time and money for a fun summer. They don't mind as long as you don't take it for granted. But once you complain about anything at all, ever to anyone, you are sunk. If you don't realize how good you have it now as an SA or are just acting entitled, no one wants to deal with you as an associate when things are a lot more pressured.

Also, never be mean to or impatient with any support staff - paralegals or secretary types. Same reasoning.

In an abundance of caution, I will also add to this. Do not tell the HR people things you think should be done differently/better in the summer program or its events. They don't see it as constructive criticism.

I would take classes that are relevant in a big firm, Corporations, Securities, Antitrust, Commercial/UCC, Tax I, Banking, Accounting for lawyers, Mergers, Communications law (not Media law) and Administrative law. I would also mix in core classes like Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Decedent's Estates, Remedies, ConLaw II (maybe), International law, Trial practice. It's a good idea to have a couple of classes with "Advanced" or "Complex" in the title because it indicates you didn't take all easy intro classes. Avoid policy classes or Law & X classes as they indicate you're really not interested in hanging around. Avoid classes that clearly indicate a desire to do something unrelated, like Immigration law if you want Corporate or Sports law if you are going to a Finance practice. Also, try to get clinic or practicums that relate to something the firm does (like industry regulation practicums or consumer finance/small business clinics).

LawIdiot86 wrote:I would take classes that are relevant in a big firm, Corporations, Securities, Antitrust, Commercial/UCC, Tax I, Banking, Accounting for lawyers, Mergers, Communications law (not Media law) and Administrative law. I would also mix in core classes like Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Decedent's Estates, Remedies, ConLaw II (maybe), International law, Trial practice. It's a good idea to have a couple of classes with "Advanced" or "Complex" in the title because it indicates you didn't take all easy intro classes. Avoid policy classes or Law & X classes as they indicate you're really not interested in hanging around. Avoid classes that clearly indicate a desire to do something unrelated, like Immigration law if you want Corporate or Sports law if you are going to a Finance practice. Also, try to get clinic or practicums that relate to something the firm does (like industry regulation practicums or consumer finance/small business clinics).

thats what i did for my fall and spring semesters, and now the only thing i am beginning to worry about in regards to an offer is my declining GPA.

LawIdiot86 wrote:I would take classes that are relevant in a big firm, Corporations, Securities, Antitrust, Commercial/UCC, Tax I, Banking, Accounting for lawyers, Mergers, Communications law (not Media law) and Administrative law. I would also mix in core classes like Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Decedent's Estates, Remedies, ConLaw II (maybe), International law, Trial practice. It's a good idea to have a couple of classes with "Advanced" or "Complex" in the title because it indicates you didn't take all easy intro classes. Avoid policy classes or Law & X classes as they indicate you're really not interested in hanging around. Avoid classes that clearly indicate a desire to do something unrelated, like Immigration law if you want Corporate or Sports law if you are going to a Finance practice. Also, try to get clinic or practicums that relate to something the firm does (like industry regulation practicums or consumer finance/small business clinics).

This advice is awful. There's a very high chance the decision to make you an offer or not will be made without even looking at your transcript, much less giving a shit about the title of the courses you took.

Pro-tip: law school is a joke and everybody knows it. Even classes directly related to practice areas you go into are likely to cover about as much ground in a semester as you will in a day on the job.